


White Flags

by thesometimeswarrior



Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender Canon Divergence AUs [8]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Family, Gen, Guilt, Uncle-Nephew Relationship, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 09:17:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12650649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: "'What about yourcountry?!You’rebetrayingit!''No,' Iroh’s voice is quiet, but firm. 'I am not. Though I am sure that it seems so to Ozai.''Youare, you—''I am not.'Zuko seems to hear the finality in Iroh’s voice and drops the subject, then softens slightly, in such a way that only his uncle could notice. 'But you…how could…you betrayedme.'"Iroh could not allow the Avatar to fall into Ozai's hands, but he will nonetheless do whatever he can to spare his nephew the pain of the consequences.





	White Flags

**Author's Note:**

> This canon-divergence piece was inspired when I was thinking about another piece of mine--the canon compliant piece _Between Rocks and Hard Places_ , which can be found [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11551902). But this piece can certainly be understood without reading that one!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Iroh sighs with contentment and relief once the Avatar manages to flee Omashu.

All things considered, the escape went about as well as it possibly could have: They had received enough advanced warning about Zuko and his troops that they had been able to plan an orderly exit strategy for the Avatar. And the boy hadn’t even been forced to flee on his own, but instead was accompanied by several White Lotus runners and, surprisingly, Pakku. ( _I had no idea the scope of this war, sequestered away in the North_ , the man had admitted to Iroh the night before as they had plotted the escape. _And though I was annoyed when you first summoned me to this city to train the boy, now that I have seen the War, I cannot go back and pretend all is well. I will escort Aang to Jeong-Jeong to begin his Firebending training._ ) And once he is certain they are a safe distance away, Iroh steps out of Omashu’s walls, crosses his legs in a lotus position, and sits to wait for his nephew.

Bumi had told him to wait within the city, but Iroh had shaken his head, said that as long as the Avatar’s safety was assured, he intended to go quietly, and that there was no need to encourage the Fire Nation to attempt to invade Omashu. Certainly the time will come, and soon, when such an attempt will be made…but Iroh doubts that Zuko will be the one to make it. 

But then, his nephew may yet surprise him. Iroh had, of course, expected Ozai to send someone to retrieve him after what he had orchestrated, but was more shocked than perhaps he should have been to learn that it was _Zuko_ who was commanding the mission. Though, upon a second thought, it is exactly within Zuko’s nature to want to confront his uncle himself, to want to try to answer the question that is always banging around his mind: _Why? Why, Uncle? Why, why, why, why_ … And, Iroh suspects, this urge is more pressing than even his desire to be home in Ozai’s good graces after nearly three years of banishment.

He does not wait long; less than an hour later, he sees the approach of Fire Nation troops across the gorge that separates Omashu from the rest of the world. 

Zuko is clearly no longer a disgraced prince, nor looks it. Rather than a minimal and ragged crew, there is an entire battalion behind his nephew…and they seem to be following his command. What is more, the boy is dressed more like a prince now than the last time Iroh saw him: armor more polished, and head no longer shaven in disgrace, but with the hair that has grown in in the past several months up in a royal topknot. There’s the same confusion in the boy’s posture, though; Iroh has no problem seeing it even at this distance. And as the boy comes to the narrow land-bridge, signals to his troops to wait, and begins to cross to confront his treacherous uncle alone, Iroh can see that confusion in his eyes, too.

He makes eye-contact with his nephew, but keeps his face impassive, and when Zuko arrives in front of him, Iroh remains seated and silent, waiting for Zuko to speak first. 

And he does. Puffs out his chest in a way that Iroh is so familiar with by now, like a demand to be heard and taken seriously. “Where’s the Avatar?!”

“Long gone, I am afraid.”

“Gone where?!”

“I cannot tell you the answer to that question, Prince Zuko.”

Zuko’s eyebrow furrows on his forehead in something like anger, in a way that Iroh has seen a thousand times before, like there’s several things he wants to say at once, and they’re all stampeding to his mouth and impeding each other in the process. Finally one of them, a question, explodes out of him. “Why did you—Why _are_ you doing this, Uncle?!”

“Ozai could not be allowed to get his hands on the Avatar.”

“ _Why not?_ ”

“For the sake of the world.”

“The _world_?! What about your _country?!_ You’re _betraying_ it!”

“No,” Iroh’s voice is quiet, but firm. “I am not. Though I am sure that it seems so to Ozai.”

“You _are_ , you—”

“I am not.”

Zuko seems to hear the finality in Iroh’s voice and drops the subject, then softens slightly, in such a way that only his uncle could notice. “But you…how could…you betrayed _me_.”

And now it’s an effort to keep his voice steady and impassive. But he nonetheless forces himself to do so…or at least to attempt to. “Is that what you think, Prince Zuko?” he asks. “That I betrayed you? I certainly endeavored to do the opposite. Would it not have been easier for me to smuggle the Avatar off your ship while we were close to the Earth Kingdom? I would have given myself a larger window to act than the mere few minutes between when you presented the Avatar to Ozai and when his guards attempted to lock him in his cell. And I would have saved both myself and the Avatar the trouble of having to escape from the Fire Nation. Or else I could have prevented you from taking him prisoner at the South Pole in the first place. But I did not do either of these things, because I knew how important it was for you to capture the Avatar and bring him to your father, and I did not wish to take that from you.”

 _I am sorry_ , he tries to say. _The last thing I wished to do was cause you pain. I did everything I could to minimize it. But I did not have a choice in this._

(In fact, he _did_ betray Zuko, he knows, by abandoning him alone in Ozai’s court. There wasn’t a choice, and he is reasonably certain that whatever Ozai might do, he won’t threaten Zuko’s life, not now…But it was nonetheless a betrayal, and Iroh feels this keenly, constantly, even if, for Zuko’s own sake, he cannot acknowledge it.)

Zuko blinks, seems to melt slightly, as if somehow he understands the meaning behind the words. Or at least as if he doesn’t have a response to Iroh’s speech. “I’m sorry, Uncle” he says finally and genuinely, producing a set of chains from his armor. “But I have to…”

 _You don’t_ , Iroh considers saying. _Come into the city with me, for now. I can protect you even from your own soldiers._ But, he knows, even if Zuko didn’t have almost half an army behind him, he wouldn’t come. While they had been at sea, Iroh had tried to protect him from the reality of the War, and so Zuko still hasn’t seen it, still doesn’t _understand_ what this War is, doesn’t know anything other than the Fire Nation. Doesn’t know anything other than Ozai to be loyal to. And showing him another path would require months, if not years, and all they have now is a few precious seconds. 

So he doesn’t tell Zuko that he doesn’t have to carry out the mission. Instead he merely asks: “Even without the Avatar?”

“I volunteered to retrieve _you_. My father will send someone else after the Avatar.”

It's a paradigm shift for Zuko, but Iroh is not surprised. This only confirms what he already knew--that Zuko's three-year long quest for honor had nothing to do with the Avatar and everything to do with a desperate wish for a father's love...love that Ozai will never give him. For three years, Iroh sought to keep this painful truth from the boy too, even after he had captured the Avatar. It's a deception that seems to have worked, and Iroh almost feels guilty that it did. 

It's not painless though. There is a cost, and all Iroh can do now is minimize it. 

“Very well,” Iroh says, rising, before motioning to the chains in the boy’s hands. “But you will not require those. I will not try to escape.”

“But, still, I…”

“If it would make you more comfortable,” Iroh holds out his writs toward his nephew. “I will not object.”

Zuko hesitates. But only for a moment. Then he proceeds to chain Iroh’s wrists and ankles together. And when the boy places his hand on Iroh’s shoulder to guide him across the land-bridge back to his soldiers, if Iroh feels his nephew’s hand trembling, he never says a word about it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I love comments!


End file.
